More Seniors Turning to Online Dating to Find Love

Published 12/06 2011 10:29PM

Updated 01/06 2012 02:28PM

It's always a battle to find Mr. or Mrs. Right, and millions of young people have gotten help on the internet. Now the baby boomer generation, and even their parents, the greatest generation, are looking for love online.

Linda and Andy Davik are as in love today as they were the day they were married last September.

Both widowed after long marriages, the couple met in July of 2010 through an online dating site.

"Each of us were married for some time, so it was kind of awkward to get back into a dating situation," Andy said.

"I didn't want to meet somebody in a bar," he said.

So Andy, and a few months later Linda, turned to online dating as a way out of their social isolation.

"It's really a hard time for a woman to find somebody," Linda said.

"Especially at our age," Andy added.

The happy couple is not alone. An increasing number of seniors are seeking romance in cyberspace.

People 55 and older are visiting American dating sites more than any other age bracket, according to Experian Hitwise, increasing 39 percent in the last three years.

"These people are working longer, they're doing their normal activities longer, so their gonna date longer too." said Nikoleta Panteve, an analyst for Ibisworld.

Andy proposed to Linda a month and a day after their first face-to-face meeting. And then, four days after that, Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer. Andy's wife of 40 years died of that cancer.

"I tried to break up with him at that point because I didn't think he should have to go through it again," Linda said.

Andy would hear none of it. He accompanied Linda through a double mastectomy and and a successful round of chemotherapy.

They married Sept. 10, 2011 -- or 9/10/11.

"We are very much newlyweds and very much in love," Linda said.

Needless to say, they highly recommend computer dating to anyone - the young and the young at heart.

"It was very romantic," Linda said. "It was very romantic."

Courtship has clearly come a long way from flowers and a box of chocolates.